1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a tape transporting device used for transporting a magnetic tape. More specifically, the present invention concerns a tape transporting device used for duplicating a magnetic tape wherein transfer is carried out by intimately contacting a recorded magnetic tape and a blank magnetic tape.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are two major techniques for duplicating magnetic tapes. One is a method wherein a recorded tape (hereafter referred to as a master tape) is played back and immediately recorded at realtime on a blank tape (hereafter referred to as a copy tape). The other is a method wherein a master tape is intimately contacted with a copy tape and heat or a magnetic filed is applied to an overlapping area to complete a transfer at speeds quicker than realtime (hereafter referred to as a transfer technique, method or contact printing). When magnetic tapes characterized by complicated recording patterns (e.g., video tapes, digital tapes, etc.) are mass duplicated, the transfer technique is the far more efficient of the two.
There are numerous conventional devices used for preparing magnetic tape duplicates by the transfer method. For example, when the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,159 is employed, a master tape is transported as an endless loop, and with a copy tape being transported from one reel frame to another in such a way that the master tape will be pressed toward the copy tape in the middle of the traveling path, and the overlapping area is thermally transferred. If a master tape characterized by an endless loop is employed, as in the aforementioned case, the duplication efficiency can be further improved since it is unnecessary to rewind the master tape. Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. Jikkai Sho 48[1973]-24722 notes a loop bin which stores an endless loop master tape.
When the aforementioned conventional tape transporting devices used for duplicating magnetic tapes are employed, however, master tapes are easily deformed, Most importantly, if a long master tape is used in the form of an endless loop, the master tape is stored in a zigzag configuration in a bin having a master tape inlet and outlet. The master tape is bent in a zigzag configuration inside the bin and is deformed at the bent segments due to gravity. If the master tape is thus deformed, the recording pattern transferred onto the copy tape is negatively affected accordingly.